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Frankenstein/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A robot, Moby, is lying on his sofa at home. He is plugged into a computer. It is nighttime, the room is dark, and there is a thunderstorm outside. Lightning flashes, and electricity shoots through Moby. He sits up, arms extended like a zombie. Creepy organ music plays. Then the light flips on. A boy, Tim, walks into the room. TIM: Hey, what's up? MOBY: Beep. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I have to read Frankenstein. I thought it was just a movie! From, Andrea. Well, Frankenstein isn't just one movie. It's been adapted for the screen dozens of times. An image shows the most well-known version of Frankenstein's monster. TIM: But before anything else, it was a book by Mary Shelley. An image shows the title page of an 1818 edition of the novel Frankenstein. TIM: The story of Frankenstein unfolds through a series of letters. Captain Robert Walton writes to his sister as he leads an expedition to the North Pole. An animation shows Captain Walton inside his ship. He is dressed warmly, writing a letter with a quill pen. Through a window, water with ice chunks floating in it can be seen. TIM: On the way, he meets Victor Frankenstein, who tells Walton the story of his life. An animation shows Walton and Frankenstein talking on an icy landscape. Frankenstein looks like Tim with a Victorian-era mustache and sideburns. MOBY: Beep. TIM: No…Frankenstein is the name of the guy who creates the monster. People get that mixed up a lot. The monster doesn't actually have a name. Anyway, Victor is a scientist who's desperate to discover the secret of life. An animation shows Victor Frankenstein in his laboratory. TIM: After years of study, he makes an enormous creature out of human remains and manages to bring it to life. An animation shows Victor Frankenstein creating a monster in his laboratory. Lightning brings the monster to life, and it sits up on its operating table. It looks like Moby but has stitches all over its face and body and bolts extending from either side of its neck. TIM: Victor intends it to be beautiful. Unfortunately, the creature turns out really hideous, and Victor runs away in terror. An animation shows Victor yelling and running in fear. TIM: The monster is good and kind, but humans are scared of it. An image shows the monster standing in a doorway. It is holding a flower and waving hello. A woman inside screams at the sight of it. TIM: When they mistreat it, the monster becomes angry and evil. An image shows the monster running from people who are holding torches and a pitchfork. Another image shows the monster's angry face. TIM: To get revenge on its creator, the monster murders Victor's brother, his wife, and his best friend. An image shows the outside of a house at night. Through a window, the monster can be seen in the house, attacking someone. TIM: That's when Victor swears to track down his creation and kill it. An image shows Victor Frankenstein shaking his fists at the monster, who stands on a hill. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, you're gonna have to read the book if you want to know what else happens. It's worth reading! An image shows the title page of an 1818 edition of the novel. TIM: Frankenstein was written in 1816, right after a period we now call the Enlightenment. It was a time of great advances in science and philosophy. An animation shows Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. He is reading a book by Galileo. An apple falls on Newton's head, and Newton ponders the event. TIM: One way to read Frankenstein is as a critique of the Enlightenment. Victor Frankenstein represents the extreme of an Enlightenment scientist. An image shows an angry Doctor Frankenstein. TIM: He's fully devoted to his pursuit of knowledge, no matter the cost. His obsession with learning nature's deepest secrets ultimately destroys him and his loved ones. Images show the doctor at work in his laboratory and the doctor collapsing in anguish. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Nope, not Mary Shelley. She and her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, were part of the Romantic movement in art and literature. An image shows Mary Shelley. TIM: Romanticism was a reaction against the Enlightenment's embrace of rationality and reason. The Romantics emphasized emotion over rationality. They felt people should respect nature and view it with awe and terror. An animation shows a wind-blown man standing atop a rock in a wilderness at sunset. There are mountains and woods all around him, and a single bird circles in the sky. TIM: Not try to mess with it and dominate it, like Victor does. In Frankenstein, Shelley might be saying that any kind of tampering with nature will lead to disaster. An animation shows Victor in his laboratory mixing chemicals. The mixture explodes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, we can't know for sure what she intended. Like any novel, Frankenstein can be interpreted in lots of different ways. Some scholars read it as an exploration of the fears and anxieties of motherhood. Parents often have big dreams for the new life they're bringing into the world. An animation shows a pregnant woman knitting. She imagines her daughter as a sweet toddler, pictured in a thought bubble. TIM: But like Frankenstein with his creature, they can't really control who their child becomes. The woman imagines her child having a tantrum. The woman looks worried. TIM: Giving birth was also a very dangerous business in Shelley's day. Many women died in childbirth. One of them was Mary Shelley's mother, the famous philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. So it's possible that Frankenstein is about the darker side of reproduction. An image shows Mary Shelley writing at a desk while looking at a portrait of her mother. TIM: The novel was an instant success when it was first published. And now, it's considered the first major work of science fiction. That's a type of story that explores how technology affects people and societies. Some name Shelley as the inventor of the genre. The monster has become one of the most recognizable figures in Western culture. An image shows copies of Frankenstein in a bookstore. They sit next to copies of other classic science fiction books. TIM: And today, the book's themes are more relevant than ever. Powerful technologies like nuclear energy and genetic engineering have transformed our world. The benefits of these advances are extraordinary, but so are the dangers. Images show a nuclear power plant and DNA double helix. Tim looks over his shoulder and notices Moby is still plugged into his computer. TIM: What, what are you doing with my computer, anyway? MOBY: Beep. Moby shrugs. Tim walks away, turns off the light, and exits the room, leaving Moby on the sofa. Moby grins and raises his arms like a zombie once again. The creepy organ music returns, and there is more thunder. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts